My life’s work in the ICU part 2

When I was in the ICU, a friend of mine came to visit me. She had just broken up with her boyfriend. She was devastated.

“Tell me what happened,” I told her. “Tell me all of the details. I want to forget I’m here in this godawful ICU.”

So she told me what happened and I listened. She said she wasn’t sure how to move on after this. I had coached her before so I reminded her of the tools she could use to begin the new chapter of her life. Then the ICU supervisor came in. “You’re not supposed to have visitors! She needs to leave now! Even talking to someone else is going to spike your bp right up!” she said.

But she was wrong. While my friend sat and talked with me in the ICU, my bp had dropped 20 points and my heart rate, for the first time since I had been admitted, had dropped below 130.

Your life’s work is your life’s work. It heals not only others, but yourself as well.